THE MULTI-LAYERED ETHNIC MINORITIES IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TOWARDS THE HAZARA COMMUNITY IN BALUCHISTAN AND KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

Abstract

The Hazara community in Pakistan is a multi-layered ethnic society, living in the Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces of the country. The Hazara community or Hazarawall (the area of the Hazara community) is also an ethnolinguistic group, inhabited in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Whereas, the Hazara community of Baluchistan, which is also an ethnic group, lives slightly different from the Hazara of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Interestingly, the voices for a separate identity and equal distribution of resources come from both communities, all together, despite having colossal cultural and language differences. This study intends to highlight the various leading factors, disregarding of both Hazara communities, in their respective areas. The discussion on this subject also contends that the people of both Hazara communities had demanded self-assertion and the role of media in this regard has remained limited. This results in a situation of identity crisis for the Hazara community in Pakistan. Therefore, this study focuses on the issues related to the social and political acceptance of the Hazara community in Pakistan. This study follows the identity crisis theory by Erik H. Ericson (1968) which explores the concept of an adolescent identity crisis. Moreover, this study focuses on the primary source of data to bring up the true picture of the ground. Also, the study involves a secondary source of data to bring a proper background of the Hazara community in Pakistan.

Keywords: Hazara, Ethnicity, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Identity Crisis, Religious Extremism.